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What is SEPA?
SEPA is the single, integrated European market, which allows the free flow of goods and services across the region. SEPA also increases opportunities for innovation and competition in payments.
SEPA for corporate
SEPA is an opportunity for your business. The common payment area could impact your cash management arrangements, giving you greater visibility over your European cash positions. It might also allow you to centralise your payments.
SEPA direct debit
SEPA Direct Debit Debtor
The SEPA direct debit for debtor consists of two services; CORE and B2B and can be used for euro-dominated payments throughout the SEPA. The CORE service is targeted for corporates and consumers, whereas the B2B service is targeted for corporates only.
As a debtor you need to sign a service agreement with Nordea. This is done by contacting your own Nordea branch.
Your benefits:
- An easy way to pay your recurring domestic and cross-border payments in time and with correct details.
- With one euro account you can order and pay for services from both domestic and foreign companies.
- Both the creditor and the debtor must comply with the same rules in all transactions.
- Possibility to have payments refunded.
Cancellation and refund
You can cancel a SEPA direct debit request before the due date in Netbank or by contacting Nordea Customer Service. You must cancel the request no later than by 12.00 on the banking day preceding the due date.
You can request a refund of a payment up to eight (8) weeks from the debit date in Netbank or by contacting Nordea Customer Service. However, requesting a refund of a SEPA direct debit request does not release you from the payment obligation towards the creditor and you should contact the creditor about the payment directly.
Unauthorised debits from your account
If you suspect that a SEPA direct debit has been unjustifiably made (for example, a double payment, no mandate, incorrect amount), you have the right to request a refund within thirteen (13) months from the debit date. Please contact your cash management adviser at Nordea for further information.
Mandate
When a creditor offers you SEPA direct debit as a means of payment, you will receive a mandate to fill in. The signed mandate should be returned to the creditor. When using the SEPA Direct Debit B2B service a copy of the mandate should be sent to Nordea for registration.
The mandatory information required in a mandate has been specified on the European level by the European Payment CouncilOpens new window. By signing the mandate, you authorise the creditor to debit your payment account. The debit account you have specified in the mandate needs to be the same account you connect to Nordea's service agreement and you need to be authorised to use the account.
The creditor cannot verify whether the account number given in the mandate is correct or whether the party that has given the mandate has the right to use the account. You must agree on any changes to the mandate directly with your creditor.
The creditor is responsible for ensuring that the mandate is up to date. If you want to revoke the mandate or change the means of payment, you must contact the creditor directly and agree on the changes.
Terms and conditions
Please read the terms and conditions of the service before making the agreement and starting to use the service.
Service specific terms and conditions for SEPA Direct Debit Debtor Servicespdf - Opens new window
General terms and conditions for corporate cash management servicespdf - Opens new window
Service terms and conditions for payment servicespdf - Opens new window
SEPA Direct Debit Creditor
The SEPA Direct Debit Creditor service enables you to debit the debtors’ EUR accounts in the SEPA area. You can use SEPA Direct Debit Creditor service to collect funds from consumers and corporate customers who have given their prior approval to it with a mandate. The SEPA Direct Debit Creditor service has two optional services: CORE and B2B.
Your benefits
The SEPA Direct Debit Creditor service provides you a simple and cost-efficient way to collect funds from SEPA-countries. It enables liquidity centralisation, certainty of payment completion within a predetermined time cycle, and the possibility to optimise and streamline internal processes with easy reconciliation of payments received. It also enables to start investigation immediately if transaction has been rejected or refunded.
You can use SEPA Direct Debit Creditor Services as an alternative for SEPA Credit transfers when collecting euros in the SEPA area.
How to implement the service?
When considering to start using the SEPA Direct Debit service we recommend that you go through the following steps.
- Decide on which SDD type – CORE and/or B2B should be implemented.
- Evaluate your current systems identifying i.e. file formats and channels used today and assess needed changes.
- Evaluate your current collection process and make a plan for your new collection routine with your sales people and your stakeholders.
- Design of the mandates deciding on the layout and the text, including creation of the mandate handling process.
- Make a plan for internal training.
- Apply for Creditor Identifier.
You will need to have a EUR account with Nordea in Finland and to sign an agreement with Nordea in order to start using the SEPA Direct Debit Creditor service.
More information on how to get started can be found in our checklistpdf - Opens new window and in the service descriptionOpens new window and technical descriptionOpens new window.
Mandate
The Mandate is designed by either you or the debtor. The content of the Mandate is standardized, but the text in the CORE and B2B mandates differ from each other. You must ensure that the Mandate contains both the mandatory legal wording and the mandatory information.
A SEPA Direct Debit collection always requires a Mandate which is your power of attorney from debtor.
With the Mandate the debtor authorizes you to collect a payment and to instruct the debtor’s (payer’s) bank to debit the collection. The mandate must to be signed by the debtor (payer) before the first collection and for the B2B service the debtor must forward a copy of the Mandate to their own bank for registration. The original mandate must be archived by you until the mandate has expired which is 36 months after the last initiated collection.
The Service Description for Mandate, including Mandate templatesOpens new window
Creditor Identifier
The Creditor Identifier (CI) represents a unique identifier of Creditor, meaning that each CI refers to one Creditor only. The CI enables Debtors and Debtor Banks to identify a Creditor independently from its account relationship with any Creditor Bank. The combination of the CI with the unique mandate reference forms the unique SDD mandate key.
Nordea can assist you in obtaining your own CI.
Terms and conditions
Please read the terms and conditions of the service before making the agreement and starting to use the service.
General terms and conditions for corporate cash management servicespdf - Opens new window
Service terms and conditions for payment services pdf - Opens new window
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer for corporate customers
SEPA Instant Credit Transfer for corporate
SEPA Instant Credit Transfers ensures that transferred funds are available in the recipient’s bank account within 10 seconds of the transaction. Nordea transfers the funds to or from your euro-denominated account immediately once the payment has arrived to Nordea or sent from Nordea as a SEPA Instant Credit Transfer.
As a Nordea corporate customer, you can receive SEPA Instant Credit Transfers from all banks in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Currently, our corporate customers can send Instant Credit Transfers via corporate online channels and various APIs.
Starting this October, we aim to expand SEPA instant payment sending capabilities to other corporate channels. These changes align with the EU's Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), which comes into effect in October 2025.
Benefits to your company:
- Possibility to speed up payments when there is a need.
- Reception of payments from other banks 24/7, even on weekends and public holidays.
- Immediate reception of funds and improved liquidity management.
- The SEPA Instant Credit Transfer amount is transferred to your company’s account in full.
- Same pricing as in SEPA Credit Transfer.
- The banks offering the service follow the same common rules when handling SEPA Instant Credit Transfers.
Receiving SEPA Instant Credit Transfers
No action is needed by our customer to receive a payment from banks that are offering instant payments to their customers.
Sending SEPA Instant Credit Transfers
As a corporate customer of Nordea, you are already able to send SEPA Instant Credit Transfers to other European banks via our corporate online channel Nordea Corporate and various APIs. Additional channels will be opened during Q4 2025.
The possibility to send multiple SEPA Instant Credit Transfers will be made available via a fully automated payment solution called ‘Multi-Payout Instant API’. We will provide more details closer to the go-live date in service descriptions and terms and conditions.
You can already test out the Multi-Payout Instant API.Opens new window
Verification of Payee
The primary purpose of the Verification of Payee (VoP) service is to ensure that funds are transferred to the intended recipient. The service verifies that the name and IBAN of the payee match those provided by the payer before authorization. If there's a mismatch, the system alerts the user. This process reduces the risk of fraud and human error in payment transactions
Starting in October, Verification of Payee will be done automatically in Nordea’s online channels for all single payments.
For our corporate file channel customers, we'll introduce a self-service API for Verification of Payee in October 2025. This API will support both single and multiple VoP requests. We will share more information closer to the launch date.
As a corporate file customer, you will have the option to opt out of the Verification of Payee service. Opting out means that you choose not to use Nordea's VoP service before sending payments for further processing. Please note that by opting out, you accept responsibility for any payments that might be sent to incorrect recipients.